Essence of Self
by rynthewin
Summary: After Lily Potter's murder, her Unspeakable records reveal that after finding out Bellatrix Lestrange's confiscated knife is a horcrux, she uses the soul piece to save the life of a baby Lestrange had attacked-Hermione Granger. She now must work to prove her innocence and understand her connection to Lestrange while warily working with Tom Riddle.


Title: Essence of Self

Chapter One

Rating: M, chapter is T

Trigger warnings for chapter: none

Wordcount: 1205

Summary: After Lily Potter's murder, her notes as an Unspeakable reveal that after finding out the knife confiscated from Bellatrix Lestrange was a horcrux, she used the soul piece to save the life of a Muggle baby Lestrange had attacked—Hermione Granger. After it is revealed, the public finds out and she becomes wanted for Lestrange's crimes as well as having to run from Lestrange herself. The only person who can help her understand what her connection to Lestrange is as a horcrux is the last person in the world she wishes to work with-Tom Riddle.

A/N: This is a work of derivative fiction based on the Harry Potter series, the copyrights to which are owned by JK Rowling. This is merely written in fun and does not gain profit.

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><p><em>June 15th<em>

The streets were dirty but there were enough people that she could slip into the crowd, so she didn't mind. It was raining and she didn't have a jacket or umbrella but she couldn't stop anywhere to steal one. Not that her anxiety would let her risk it. The Aurors weren't far behind her, and they had put up anti-apparition wards for quite a distance. A cab wasn't an option-even wizards would think to look in the back of one passing by. So her only option was quick walking to try and get away-no running as it would draw too much attention to herself.

If she got caught, she would either be given the Kiss, or a spy would drag her to Voldemort and Lestrange. Either choice made her shiver from far more than being soaked on a windy day.

Slosh. Slosh. Slosh. She counted her footsteps splashing in the standing water to try and calm down her heart rate as she kept a lookout for red robes. She had been so careful not to be spotted, but someone in the area must have recognized her from her wanted poster and reported her.

_I'm going to be caught. There's too many of them, and I don't have any options except to fight._

The inevitability of her capture scared her, but she refused not to try and get away.

As she turned a corner, on alert, a young man who had been standing there that she had assumed to be a passerby fell into step with her, holding an umbrella over her head. "You are awful wet, Miss Granger. I'm glad I brought an umbrella rather than use a rain repelling charm."

Hermione panicked, and drew her wand on the person. When she realized it wasn't an Auror, she almost moved to obliviate them-

But this was the last person on Earth she thought she'd ever see or meet. Stunned and afraid, she kept her wand pointed at him, the tip of it right over the area his heart. She knew, though, this man had no heart except one to pump blood through his veins.

"Hello, I believe you're having a bit of an Auror problem? I completely understand, as I am in the same boat as you," he said, nodding with a bright smile that showed all of his teeth. Hermione vaguely was reminded of the fact that most animals showed their teeth as a threat. "I have a car that can get you and me out of here. Unless, of course, you'd like to try and get past the Aurors closing in on you on your own?" Tom Riddle smiled so charmingly, even in his mockery. "Murdering an Auror would only further your wanted status. Can you kill them all? There's about eight."

"You're…" she couldn't believe it. _A Horcrux of Voldemort's had revived._ She couldn't hide her shock and fear, and emotions finally reached his eyes that he had not been able to fake before—and they gleamed, delighted at her fear. His delight in it made her swallow it down, and meet his eyes head on, aggressive.

Meeting the eyes of an animal is a challenge as well. However, he seemed even happier at her defiance.

"Why should I get into a car with _Voldemort_?" she asked. "You have to be mad."

And he had the gall to chuckle at her. Beautiful and throaty, and it held true disdain enough to make her blood boil in anger. "I'm no more Voldemort than you are Bellatrix Lestrange. You of all people should understand you are a separate being once a Horcrux is revived. And you have three minutes to decide if you're coming with me or not. I'm not risking capture either."

She stepped out from under his umbrella into the rain, pushing her wet hair back from her forehead with the hand not pointing her wand at him—though she didn't understand why his eyes immediately focused on her action before looking back to her face. "You're no different from him, just a younger version. And why shouldn't I just kill you? Why should I believe you wouldn't just take me to your older self?" She kept her brave face, but inside she was quaking with fear. _Voldemort had a Horcrux revive, and he'd come to find her._

The smile faded. "You might be surprised at how different we are, Hermione. And you'll find out that—and have safety—if you come with me. Do you honestly think that Voldemort would let me live? A younger, sane competitor? I am the last person who would be taking you there."

He stepped closer, and she instinctively took a step back, though he was still close enough for her to be under the small umbrella. "And you'll get the chance to work against my other self and your own other self. Would you rather spend your life running, or fight? I would assume you'd take the Gryffindor choice."

"I'm not Bellatrix," she snapped, trying to believe it herself.

"You survived because her soul piece revived you as an infant. You are just as much her as I am my older self. So you probably understand my intense dislike for comparisons to that deformed creature." And with that the last of his mockingly polite mask faded, his hard and heated expression like magma cooling into rock. The rain pooling off the edges of the umbrella dripped down the back of her shirt and over her hair, and she was frozen in fear at how much his anger radiated like an aura around him.

She'd seen the pictures that Ginny had found of Tom Riddle, shaking as she told Hermione about the sheer amount of charisma and charm he'd laid before her, how she had felt like the most important person in the world with him. She'd cried quietly as she described the fear and betrayal she'd felt when she had realized someone who had become terribly important to her was going to kill her, and would laugh the whole time.

Hermione, however, was seeing something much different-the mask loose, bent to the moods of the moment and used as a weapon when needed. It was meant to be intimidating, and he succeeded.

_I'm no coward, but I can't kill him on the street._ She tried to tell herself it was because the Aurors would notice, but in that moment she was was about to turn and walk away, but immediately stopped once she saw a flash of red robes pass across the street, luckily not seeing them. Hermione's stomach roped itself into painful knots, and her fear of getting the Dementor's Kiss was enough for her to take the risk. His logic of Voldemort not being pleased at seeing him was sound.

She wanted to laugh a bit hysterically at the thought that a twenty-something Tom Riddle was safer than the Aurors.

"The clock is ticking," he said quietly, breaking the silence, his dangerous mood fading into something more cautious and calculating at having seen the Auror too.

"Where is your car?"

After all, this could be the perfect chance to help Harry in defeating Voldemort.


End file.
